Coyotes may have played final game in Glendale

While it is not exactly Ebbetts Field or the Polo Grounds (circa 1957 when the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants left for California), the Phoenix Coyotes played their last home game of the season Friday at Jobing.com Arena.

It could have been the last Coyotes game ever in Phoenix and the Glendale arena if the National Hockey League-owned franchise ends up being sold and moved to another market such as Quebec City or another city.

Or it could just be the last home game with the Coyotes being owned and run by the NHL. An ownership group that wants to keep the team in Glendale could still buy the team and keep hockey in the desert after what is approaching a four-year ownership saga.

The Coyotes game Friday against the Colorado Avalanche had zero playoff implications. Neither team will be in the postseason. The game went to overtime and then shootout with the Avs winning 5-4.

The extra time was a fitting conclusion to the Coyotes season considering the team’s ownership saga which has dragged on and on since 2009.

The NHL bought the team out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy for $140 million back in the 2009. The league has owned the team since with arena management payments from the city of Glendale. Several attempts to sell the Coyotes have fallen short.

Coyotes COO Mike Nealy voiced confidence the franchise would be back in Glendale next season.

“This is a hockey town. You guys make it a hockey town,” said an emotional Nealy during the first period of the game. “The NHL belongs here. See you next year.”

Still, the Coyotes were selling all merchandise at arena shops for 40 percent off and have let their in-store stock of jerseys run out. Arena ushers, staff and fans were all wondering whether it is the last game for this year’s NHL season or the end of the franchise’s tenure in Arizona.

The team does have season ticket prices listed for the 2013-14 season if the team stays in Phoenix.

So what happens next?

In 2011, the Atlanta Thrashers were sold on May 31 to a group that moved the team over the summer to Winnipeg. That sale came just as the Stanley Cup Finals started. It also gave the group time to gear up operations in Winnipeg and for the league to get its schedule for the next season in order. Atlanta also lost a franchise to Calgary in 1980.

The NHL playoffs are starting later this season because of the lockout but the May 31 and June 1 dates are likely key public benchmarks in the Coyotes sale.

But behind the scenes the NHL had been talking for sometime to the group that bought the Thrashers and moved them. The NHL had also talked to that group, True North Sports and Entertainment, about buying the Coyotes.

Darren Dregor, a commentator for Canadian sports network TSN, said in late March the NHL could decide by April 30 on whether the Coyotes were staying or going. The NHL has insisted it will not operate the Phoenix franchise another season but wants to keep the team here.

Ownership hopes

There are groups, new and old, still interested in keeping the Coyotes at Jobing.com Arena. Previous Coyotes bidders Ice Edge Holdings and Chicago investment executive Matthew Hulsizer could still be part of a purchase of the team.

The names Chicago Bulls and Whites Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf and business partner John Kaites, a Phoenix attorney and lobbyist, also still come up even though they have made and later withdrawn previous bids for the team.

The newest names in the Coyotes discussions are wealthy Canadian energy and investment executive George Gosbee and Southern California investment executive Darin Pastor.

Those new bidders, especially Gosbee, could also team with previous suitors such as Hulsizer or Ice Edge executive Anthony LeBlanc and Daryl Jones on a purchase bid.

The Coyotes lost an estimated $21 million last year, according to Forbes. Previous bidders have run into trouble securing financing and bringing and keeping investors because of those losses.

The team did see improved attendance and television ratings this season after three straight Stanley Cup Playoff appearances. Phoenix is missing the playoffs this season.

Jobing.com Arena

While past and failed Coyotes bids have hinged on arena management fees from the city of Glendale to help get a deal done, the city has hired a Massachusetts-based sports investment firm Beacon Sports Capital Partners to accept bids from potential Jobing.com Arena managers.

The deadline for arena management bids and ideas is May 24. The fate of the Coyotes future could be well cemented before that deadline. Arena managers could include Coyotes ownership groups or the city-owned arena could be managed by a third party.

The Glendale City Council approved a big arena deal last year for Greg Jamison’s failed bid to buy the team. That deal averaged $15 million over 20 years.

More recent Glendale budget documents have used a $6 million arena management fee as a placeholder figure. Documents in the arena RFP expect the arena to end this fiscal year with just over $6.9 million in revenue and just under $12.5 million in expenses. That translates into a $5.5 million shortfall.

Bidders for the arena RFP are asked to outline their management fees and any unique revenue or financial or marketing ideas they have. Jobing.com Arena is almost 10 years old and could face a future either without the Coyotes its main tenant or with a new local owner of the team offering the franchise and facility some stability.

Quebec City

If the Coyotes end up moving, Quebec City is one of the favorites to land the franchise. A new $400 million, 18,500-seat arena is being built in the Canadian city. It will open in 2015. Quebec businessman Pierre Karl Peladeau stepped down from day-to-day executive duties with communications giant Quebecor Inc. in March. The Financial Post newspaper reported Peladeau is looking at buying an NHL team.

Quebecor Inc. also has an ownership stake in the arena along with the city of Quebec.

All that puts Quebec at the top of the list despite it being a smaller market, The French Canadian city has a regional population of 1.1 million versus 4.3 million in the Phoenix area.

Other markets

The NHL may have some other options beyond Quebec City. An ownership is trying to buy the National Basketball Association’s Sacramento Kings and move them to Seattle.

That could bring about efforts to buy the Coyotes as well, but the timing window might be tight for that effort. There also are some U.S. markets without hockey or basketball teams such as Kansas City and Las Vegas or those with NBA team but not the NHL that could have Coyotes bidders. That list might include Oklahoma City and Portland.

There also are development plans for a hockey arena in suburban Toronto and talk of a second franchise in Canada’s largest market.

A Coyotes move to an Eastern market would complicate proposed realignment plans. There also is the wild card chance the NHL could disband the Phoenix franchise, disperse its players and then pick an expansion franchise in another market.